Is this chinese? If so, how is it pronounced? "Zhi Jhiang"

[vale tudo]

Zhi Jhiang - a name..thanks

[OracleBone]

Are there more details around this word?

Zhi Jhiang seems equivalent to Zhi Jiang, it can be 枝江 芷江 etc.

[Ari 桑]

Tones aside, it is pronounced kinda like "jur jee-ang"

[vale tudo]

I'm honestly not sure about any origin. I can't get in touch with anyone who can confirm the pronunciation at the moment.

[fireball9261]

It's probably Zhejiang 浙江 as in Zhejiang province.

For someone speaks Beijing styled Mandarin, it would sound like "jur-jee-ang". For someone speaks Shanghai or Zhejiang accented Mandarin, it would sound like "Ji-jee-ang" 枝江 or 芷江. Zhejiang was originally named because of a big river in the province, and the big river was called "之江" Zhi Jiang and later changed to "浙江" Zhe Jiang. (I heard it from my dad).

[lilongyue]

When talking about Chinese you't ever say "tones aside." If you count the 4 prpoper tones, plus the unofficial 5th tone, there's 25 different possible pronunciations, and therefore meanings, of the word you're talking about. It would be best to ask what the tones are for the word, and/or find the character, then it would be easier for us to help you. Honestly, after a certain point in one's study of Chinese even pinyin ceases to be useful (except for when typing on a computer).

[vale tudo]

The reason I'm here is because I know nothing about the Chinese language. I'm only giving a speech and I can't contact anyone who can confirm how this is pronounced and I'd like to avoid any embarrassing moments.

Thanks, though.

[Ari 桑]

Yeah yeah, when it comes to someone not knowing any chinese whatsoever, and describing things over the internet, putting tones on hold is legal.

Could be 浙江，who knows.

[mathiassan]

ya i know

芷江 maybe u wanna say 浙江

[Lu]

Is it the name of a person or of a place? Do you have any more information on it? It looks like a typo, there is no Jh in hanyu pinyin (the most widely used romanization system). Might be Zhi Jiang, and that would be pronounced a bit like Jhr Dyang (ang as in angst).

Don't worry too much about pronounciation, you'll probably mispronounce, but that will probably not be a huge issue. Most people who don't know Chinese mispronounce Chinese names.

[gougou]

Most people who don't know Chinese mispronounce Chinese names.

More importantly, most people don't notice when you mispronounce Chinese names

[zuhaoyang]

you mean :zhe jiang-浙江 (zhe/4 jiang/1)?

[fireball9261]

I thought it was possibly zhe jiang-浙江 (zhe/4 jiang/1) pronouced by a Zhejiang 浙江 native in his/her native accent.

[fireball9261]

Yes, Zhi and Jhiang in first tone is Zhejiang pronounced by a person with Zhejiang dialect or accent.

However, if the person is actually speaking in no accented Mandarin, it could be:

Zhi: 支, 搘, 枝, 鳷, 芝, 蜘, 脂, 胝, 肢, 疧, 之, 汁, 祇, 祗, 卮, 氏, 秖, 隻, 知, 織, 栀.

Jhiang (btw, it sounds like Jiang): 薑, 韁, 漿, 螿, 將, 豇, 殭, 疆, 江, 姜, 僵, 繮.

[fireball9261]

ok, I've done a search and found an interesting thread using the keywords 'Hangzhou dialect'. I hope that's what you're referring to when you say 'Zhejiang dialect'.

Yes. However, Hangzhou's city dialect was closer to the regular Mandarin than most of other parts of Zhejiang province. It was the Capital city in Southern Song dynasty. If you go to the country side around Hangzhou, the dialects becomes almost unrecognizable sometimes -- It's not just because of the pronounciations. It also has something to do the different words or phrases they used in expressing something in Mandarin. I had an experience of translating a taxi driver's Xiaoshan (suburb of Hangzhou) accented Mandarin to two young women from another city (probably from the North of China) around Hangzhou train station.

I am a Zhejiang Ren from both father and mother sides. My mother is from Xiaoshan (next to Hangzhou and in north of Zhejiang) and my father was from Wenzhou (in south of Zhejiang). All of their Zhejiang friends (from different cities of Zhejiang) pronounced Zhejiang (zhe4 jiang) as Zhi Jiang (zhi jiang) in first tones.